Embedded Files
Social media tools provide Trinity School employees and students with an opportunity to connect, communicate, and extend learning. The school respects the rights of employees to use social media and networking tools for school-related and personal purposes. Social media includes all means of communicating or posting information or content of any sort on the internet, including to an employee’s own or someone else’s blog, vlog, journal, diary, business or personal website, social networking or affinity website (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.), web bulletin board, or chat room, whether or not associated with Trinity School, as well as any other form of electronic communication.
Context
We realize that social networking bridges the work life and personal life of employees, and thus some conflicts of responsibilities may occur. The school’s interest is in defining the educational and work-related contexts of social networking and communicating (vs. blogging) for the protection of our employees, students, and the school community as a whole.
Key Principles
Interacting with others online is no different than interacting face-to-face—that is, we are required to maintain the principles of respect, dignity, prudence, professionalism, safety, and concern for and protection of children in all interactions. With specific regard to social networking, all employees must do the following:
• Remain cognizant that social networking activities may be visible to past, current, or prospective students, parents, colleagues, and community members—and thus reflect directly or indirectly on the school, affecting current students and community members.
• Exercise appropriate discretion (i.e., err on the side of caution) when using social networks for personal communications (such as with friends, colleagues, parents, or former students) that might in any way impact their role at the school.
• Keep in mind that the uneven power dynamics of a school—in which adults have implied authority over former students—continue to shape those relationships after the end of the school day and year, and even after graduation. Employees must act in a manner that always respects and never exploits the power inherent in these relationships.
• Balance their right of individual free expression with the valid interests of the school in promoting and presenting its mission, culture, and values to the community at large as reflected by the public actions and statements of its employees.
Employees must be aware that the school considers discretion and prudent judgment in social networking activities to be a serious matter with regard to protecting the school, its students, its parents, and its employees. As such, violation of this policy may lead to corrective action, up to and including termination of employment.
Guidelines
1. Classroom/Professional Use of Social Networking
Faculty are expected to limit class activities to age-appropriate and educationally appropriate tools (including social networks and blogs).
New social networking tools and features are continually being introduced that may or may not be appropriate for course use. If employees are unsure about a new networking tool that they think will be useful in their classroom, they should contact their division head and request and receive approval of the tool or resource prior to using it.
2. Friending Students, Alumni, and Parents
Employees, coaches, and trustees are not allowed to follow or “friend” currently enrolled Trinity students (grades TK–12) on any social media site. Any existing personal social media network connections with current Trinity school students must be terminated before the beginning of the school year.
Trinity is a small community and we understand that many teachers, staff, coaches, and trustees are connected via social media with fellow teachers, staff, parents, and alumni. Please be mindful that parents, especially, view social media posts as an opportunity to get a glimpse into a classroom, team, or class. Think strongly before posting content that could in any way be viewed as expressing your frustration or exasperation or is in any way disparaging to your students and/or their families.
Posting by employees shall not reference, link to, or contain statements that could be viewed as malicious, obscene, threatening or intimidating; that disparage students, employees, parents, or community members; or that could be viewed as harassment or bullying.
Students on the Trinity Do Not Publish list are not allowed to appear on personal social media sites. The Do Not Publish list is updated yearly by the marketing and communications team and is found on the faculty and staff shared Google site.
Use professional discretion when friending alumni age 18 and older. When doing so, recognize that many former students have online connections with current students (including younger siblings and friends), and that information shared between school-related adults and recent alumni is likely to be seen by current students as well.
3. Use of Social Networks for Development/Marketing/Communication Purposes
The school maintains a social networking presence and posts content on the following accounts:
Facebook (Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill, Trinity School Alumni)
Twitter (@TrinityDCH, @TrinityDCHLions, @TSDCHboyshoops, @TSrobotics, Syntax Error [@ftc5459], Artificial Stupidity [@ftc2827], and FTC Team 3587 [@ftc3587])
Instagram (Trinity School, StudLife [US Student Life], TrinityDCHLions)
Vimeo
YouTube
Varied content is posted for marketing, community branding and awareness, development, alumni relations, and communication. All contacts or postings to these sites are to be initiated under the joint direction of the Advancement office and the Director of Marketing and Communications.
4. School-Related Friends (Coworkers, Supervisors, and Subordinates)
Employees are asked to use good judgment when making and/or accepting friend, link, or connection requests to or from school colleagues. Employees in supervisor/subordinate relationships are particularly encouraged to use caution, due to the potential for both parties to feel pressured to accept the request for business purposes. This could affect work and social relationships, as well as possibly raising conflict of interest, unequal treatment, discrimination, or other concerns. Always respect the privacy of others in the school community.
5. Non-School-Related Friends
Employees should remind all other members of their network about their position as an educator whose profile may be accessed by members of the school community and should ask them to monitor their posts to the employee's network accordingly. Employees should also be judicious in their own postings to all friend sites and act immediately to remove any material from those sites that may be inappropriate and/or in violation of this policy. This includes being “tagged” in photos on the sites of friends or others, especially where the photos may include activities not appropriate for viewing by students and other members of the school community.
Note: Due to the fact that social media sites are increasingly interconnected (e.g., Facebook and Instagram), employees should be aware that any content posted on one site online may immediately or eventually show up on other sites. Not posting inappropriate content in the first place is the only way to completely protect against this possibility.
6. Groups in Your Social Network
All employees are asked to use good judgment in publicly associating only with social networking groups consistent with the mission and reputation of the school. At the same time, this provision is not intended to limit valid intellectual discourse on a wide variety of subjects or viewpoints.
7. Privacy Settings and Content
Employees are asked to exercise care with privacy settings and personal profile content to ensure that posted content does not reflect poorly on the school in any way or otherwise create a conflict of interest. Content should be placed thoughtfully and should be periodically reviewed. On most sites, privacy settings can be changed at any time to limit access to profiles and searchability, and changes should be made when necessary.
8. Time on Social Media Sites
In order to maintain and model professionalism in all aspects of Trinity’s work environment, employees should refrain from using social media sites for personal use during work hours except for incidental usage (e.g., spending a moment or two checking a site in between other work activities). Employees are expected to limit this activity to off-hours, except for explicitly class-related use of these sites.
Use of social networking resources should not interfere with or impede completion of employees’ job duties and their responsibilities to the school, the students, and other members of the school community. Please be mindful that it is always possible for students, parents, and colleagues to be aware if and when an employee is on a social media site during the school day and that this can reflect badly on that employee and Trinity School.
9. Online Identity and Posting to Blogs
As a vibrant academic community, Trinity encourages all employees to maintain active interest and engagement in a wide range of activities, intellectual pursuits, causes, missions, and the like—including social, political, religious, and civic groups, and organizations, blogs, and publications that exist for business purposes. At the same time, this must be balanced with the school’s right to manage public communications issued in its name.
An employee who makes web or social media postings concerning the school must include a disclaimer to readers stating that the views expressed are the employee’s alone and that they do not necessarily reflect the views of the school. All faculty, staff, or other Trinity employee websites, social media sites, or blogs must be password protected.
Employees should exercise caution when posting photos of Trinity students to their personal social media pages. Photographs of students may not be used without parental permission. Parental permission is presumed unless a parent requests that their child be placed on the Do Not Publish list. The posting party is responsible for checking the school’s current Do Not Publish list to ensure that listed students do not appear. The Do Not Publish list is updated yearly by the marketing and communications team and is found on the faculty and staff shared Google site.
Employees may not post messages to blogs or other online venues indicating or implying a connection to the school in any way without the prior written consent of the Head of School. For example, if an employee chooses to post a personal message on a social media site or blog, she must not sign the post, “Jane Smith, Faculty Member, Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill,” but rather only “Jane Smith.”
Similarly, when making personal, non-work-related posts to social media sites or blogs, employees should not use their school email address in the message or for reply purposes, as this may inadvertently and inappropriately imply approval of the message’s content by the school.
10. Digital Communication
Employees are encouraged to add the following to all personal social media bio pages:
“The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.”
Exclusive one-on-one interaction between employees and students where the employee uses non-school electronic means (i.e., a personal cell phone) is forbidden except for the use of texting for logistical matters or information delivery for school-sponsored events, athletic events, or group activities. The preferred way to communicate changes in schedules, practices, etc., is to use a group communication app such as Group Me or Remind, or to simply include all team members or students in any group text. Do not text one-on-one with a student.
11. Email Signatures
All faculty and staff are required to use Trinity’s standard email signature line, unaltered, as their official Trinity email signature.
Your email signature must appear in the following standard style:
Firstname Lastname
Your title as listed on Trinity’s website
Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill
4011 Pickett Road, Durham, NC 27705
919-402-8262 x9999
“A favorite verse or quote that is mission aligned.” – Author or Book 1:1
Do not include the following:
Your email address. This is not necessary, since the signature appears in an email from you.
Images, logos, attachments, or links.
Any extra information not listed above, including preferred pronouns.
In the Gmail signature settings, select the Serif font and Normal size. Use bold for your name only, and italics only for your quotation, as in the example above. Quotations are highly recommended but not required.
12. Protecting Confidential Information
The school requires all confidential and sensitive information related to students, faculty, and staff to be protected at all times and to be disclosed on a need-to-know basis pursuant to school policy or as otherwise required by law. Accordingly, no electronic communications, social network posting, or blog posting may communicate any confidential information.
13. Use of Logos, Trademarks, and Intellectual Property
Employees are not permitted to use the school’s logo, trademarks, official photographs, or any other intellectual property or proprietary materials of the school in any postings without the written consent of the Advancement office.
14. Transparency
Employees should never misrepresent themselves or the school in any social networking or blogging posts. The school will never ask employees to misrepresent themselves or their position in the school on behalf of the school.
15. Use of Social Network Sites in Background Checking
All employees involved in the interviewing or hiring of new employees should refrain from “researching” candidates via the internet and/or social networking sites for hiring or screening purposes. The school maintains very specific background-checking procedures, under the direction of the Human Resource representative. As background checking is a serious matter that is governed by specific regulations and that creates a variety of risks and liabilities for the school if not handled properly, no employee is permitted to engage in “freelance” checks of any type.
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